Japanning Around
I really need to work on my foreign language skills.
Because I just got this lovely delivery of Japanese knitting books.
A book of 300 knitting stitches.
A book of autumn/winter patterns.
A lovely book of lace patterns, because I saw it on Fleegle's blog, when she compared it to Lace Style.
And, an extra bonus, a very helpful guide on reading the patterns.
Now, Fleegle has a "how-to read Japanese patterns" also, which is really helpful. More than one, in fact. Not to mention this post with links to other sources--including that guide book you see above.
Here are a couple more for you, too.
The lace book has some really lovely patterns in it. Not least of which is this simply gorgeous shawl. Gorgeous. Beyond gorgeous.
I'm telling you, one of these days, I really need to buckle down and decipher this stuff . . . I can't say that I love every Japanese pattern I've seen, but some, like this shawl? Wow.
Just, wow.
I love so many of the Japanese patterns! I find the charted directions fairly reasonable to decipher, but some of the more detailed text... not so much! gorgeous books, no matter what! :) they're worth it for the inspiration.
Posted by: jess | May 22, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Good luck!! :)
Posted by: Chris | May 22, 2007 at 10:20 PM
Lovely! If you get stuck, Paige at Modern Yarn is fluent in Japanese.
Posted by: Ina | May 22, 2007 at 11:15 PM
I can eat sushi. That is about all the Japanese I know.
The shawl is absolutely beautiful!
Posted by: Gracie | May 23, 2007 at 12:58 AM
I *love* the Japanese knitting books!
Posted by: Romi | May 23, 2007 at 01:49 AM
Gorgeous books :) And that shawl is stupendous :) :) :) I might have to have a look at ordering some of those books one of these days :) Yeah, I'm in a 'smiley' mood today :):):)
Posted by: Eva | May 23, 2007 at 02:57 AM
That shawl really is gorgeous.
Posted by: Carole | May 23, 2007 at 07:04 AM
That is a great shawl - love the geometry of it.
Posted by: PumpkinMama | May 23, 2007 at 07:05 AM
Lovely - but do you REALY read Japanese??
Posted by: Deb | May 23, 2007 at 09:05 AM
That is a pretty shawl. Glad your earring got lonely and came home!
Posted by: Risa | May 23, 2007 at 09:48 AM
You are braver than me! My Japanese consist of: tepu rekoda=tape recorder and I can count to 10 in Japanese too!
Posted by: Carol | May 23, 2007 at 10:04 AM
Oh my, that shawl is gorgeous! I love that lace pattern!!!!
Posted by: Kristi aka Fiber Fool | May 23, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Ooh. Those books look fabulous. I just hope that the stitches are charted, and that they have good schematics! ;-)
P.S. Been poking around your blog for the post(s) about the knitting bag you made, was it late last year? Can't find 'em. And I can't find a search utility on your blog! :-( Help.
Posted by: Laura | May 23, 2007 at 10:29 AM
Japan just rocks crafts an dfiber an d patterns! I second Ina's suggestion that you talk to Paige of Modern Yarn if you need help.
Posted by: Kim | May 23, 2007 at 11:57 AM
How fun! Where'd you get them? I bet you're going to do great things with these.
Posted by: Faith | May 23, 2007 at 01:15 PM
Deb
Bring them into our SNB one night and I can help you with them--having lived there for 4 years, I spent a lot of time figuring out all those tiny characters.
Paige
Posted by: Paige | May 23, 2007 at 03:31 PM
I just wanted to let you know how much fun it is to visit here!! I never know what you'll post about!! ;)
Posted by: Danielle | May 23, 2007 at 04:11 PM
I have read that the Japanese knitting books are gorgeous. Let us know how the patterns are when you decide to try a pattern.
Posted by: Sheila | May 24, 2007 at 06:11 PM